Paying tradesmen upfront

[HotChocolateLover]

I thought this was a real no no? We’ve booked a guy to do our patio and he wants 50% on the first day. At first I assumed it was a cash flow and he would be buying materials but he’s turning up with them so it’s not that. There’s something that doesn’t seem right and the CAB website advised against it. Our electrician didn’t ask for a penny in advance and it was a £4K job and neither did our plumber (£3.5k) We didn’t even have a contract with the electrician or plumber so could easily have told them to jog on when they came for their money (we would never have done that)

What do people think? I’ve told my husband i’m Not keen to proceed but wondered what other people’s thoughts were.

Nope, I wouldn't pay anything up front.

Not up front no but maybe part way through the job.

OH is a tradesman & will occasionally bill part way through if it's a huge job (think weeks of daily attendance)

Absolutely not. Do you have everything in writing? Ask him why when other tradesmen haven’t. Is he totally legit?

Absolutely not. You would be mad. Do you have a contract with them at all! Even a simple one?

Even a large build project doesn't have upfront payments, they are staged

No contract. He’s on check a trade which we’ve used successfully before but after seeing really terrible stories in the newspaper i’m Thinking it’s not such a good idea. I just can’t understand why he still wants half when he will have already bought the materials. Maybe we’re better off with someone else.

Sorry, but I wouldn't be paying anything upfront. I've been burnt by doing that before, and however trustworthy the next one may seem, I'm not doing it. I will explain this to them, and they're not happy, I will simply find someone else to do the work.

Refuse and he either leaves or gets on with the job.

I hope you are not paying cash either? Again no rights after the event

@MarieG10 Definitely not cash! I’m glad everyone thinks the same and i’m Not being paranoid. 50% is about £1500 so whilst it wouldn’t cripple us financially, I still wouldn’t want to lose it.

nope!!!

The guy who did our fence needed to pay for the materials- my husband went and paid for them direct with the stockiest to be delivered to ours. I dont pay the tradesman upfront

I would possibly pay for materials rather than leave a small business with cash flow problems.
A tradesman would usually be sourcing supplies from somewhere he has credit himself so not a problem, but if your job is unusual he may not have a credit line for your special patio stones etc. We paid direct to a quarry for some stone for instance, delivered to our house.

Cross post with onlyfools!

It’s just that 50% also seems such a large amount. If it was say, 10%, i’d View it as a retainer for his time and he could see that we were serious. However half up front does make me wonder if we’re doing the right thing. There’s so many other people who want the work that i’m sure we can find someone else. Also is the fact that he’s charging £2890 compared to all the other quotes being a min of £4000 something that would ring alarm bells?